Feature comparisons are made between stable versions of software, not the upcoming versions or beta releases – and are exclusive of any add-ons, extensions or external programs (unless specified in footnotes).

Notes

Multiple instances: multiple instances of the program can be opened simultaneously for editing multiple files. Applies both for SDI and MDI programs. Also applies for program that has a user interface that looks like multiple instances of the same program (such as some versions of Microsoft Word).

Single document window splitting: window can be split to simultaneously view different areas of a file.

MDI: Overlappable windows: each opened document gets its own fully movable window inside the editor environment.

MDI: Tabbed document interface: multiple documents can be viewed as tabs in a single window.

Notes

Syntax highlighting: Displays text in different colors and fonts according to the category of terms.

Function list: Lists all functions from current file in a window or sidebar and allows user to jump directly to the definition of that function for example by double-clicking on the function name in the list. More or less realtime (does not require creating a symbol database, see below).

Symbol database: Database of functions, variable and type definitions, macro definitions etc. in all the files belonging to the software being developed. The database can be created by the editor itself or by an external program such as ctags. The database can be used to instantly locate the definition even if it is in another file.

In general, most text editors do not support large text files. Some restrict themselves to available in-core RAM while others use sophisticated virtual memory management techniques and paging algorithms.[84]

Unicode and other character encodings

To support specified character encoding, the editor must be able to load, save, view and edit text in the specific encoding and not destroy any characters. For UTF-8 and UTF-16, this requires internal 16-bit character support.

Partial support is indicated if: 1) the editor can only convert the character encoding to internal (8 bit) format for editing.
2) If some encodings are supported only in some platforms.
3) If the editor can only display specific character set (such as OEM) by loading corresponding font, but does not support keyboard entry for that character set.

Right to Left and Bidirectional

Support for right to left (RTL) texts (like Hebrew, Arabic, Persian) and the mixture of left to right (LTR) and RTL known as bidirectional (bidi) support.

Depending on the algorithm used in the programs they might only render the bidirectional text correctly but may not be able to edit them. (e.g. Notepad++ 5.1.3 shows bidirectional texts correctly but you cannot edit it and you should change the window direction to be able to edit right to left texts correctly.)